


i'm glad we came

by lethe_returning



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Bisexual Character, F/F, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Short One Shot, Tween Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23650132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethe_returning/pseuds/lethe_returning
Summary: It's been a long, wild week in Sea City with the Pikes, and Stacey and Mary Anne are taking an evening off at the boardwalk. The light is golden, the air is warm, and for a moment, Mary Anne feels like they understand each other.
Relationships: Stacey McGill/Mary Anne Spier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	i'm glad we came

**Author's Note:**

> A gentle divergence from That Scene in the graphic novel adaptation of Boy-Crazy Stacey. I realize I am basically playing violin on the Titanic here, but, you know.

It was hard not to love Stacey McGill.

Mary Anne had certainly come close. Being stuck on a babysitting job with someone for a week would do that to you, especially when they were _pining after lifeguards_ instead of _helping out with any of the seven kids they were supposed to be watching, Stacey._

But then she did things like take Mary Anne on spontaneous trips to the pier, with that sparkle in her eye, telling her she _had_ to wear something cute if they were going to enjoy the sunset properly. Mary Anne didn’t see what difference it made, but there was something special in the way Stacey held one dress, then another, up to Mary Anne’s shoulders, before saying, “This one would be perfect on you.” It was that feeling that Stacey could _see_ her, really see her, and knew just what would make her feel like she was herself, but better.

It was the bright, infectious glitter in her laugh when she spotted a silly necklace at one of the souvenir shops. “Couldn’t you see Claudia rocking this?”

Stacey held the necklace up to the light, giggling, and before Mary Anne knew it, the cashier was expertly swaddling it in brown paper, and he and Stacey were basically best friends, talking about some show they’d both seen. She was just like that.

Mary Anne barely had any time to feel jealous, though, before Stacey’s attention was back on her. “Oh, Mary Anne, look at that sunset! It’s been a week and I still can’t get over it.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Mary Anne replied honestly.

“Let’s go look at it, okay? There’s a spot over there.”

So there they were, leaning against a railing on the pier, in cute dresses that definitely made the difference when it came to proper sunset enjoyment.

“Aren’t you glad you dressed up for this?” Stacey asked with a little smile, and Mary Anne wondered if she was secretly a mind-reader, or if Mary Anne was just that obvious.

“It _does_ feel special,” Mary Anne conceded. 

If you’d asked her last year about her friendship with Stacey McGill, if she were being honest, Mary Anne would not have had a lot to say. They spent a lot of time together, of course, with the club and all — but she could count the number of times they’d spoken privately on one hand. Mary Anne had liked Stacey well enough, but she’d also known perfectly well that they were very different people who didn’t have enough in common to keep one conversation going. Stacey was too effortless, too gorgeous, too… _perfect_. Why would she be interested in hanging out with plain old Mary Anne?

And then the Pikes had happened. The beach had happened. That entire dumb lifeguard fiasco had happened, and Mary Anne had gotten to see the part of Stacey that she didn’t show at school or at club. The part that got flustered and didn’t know what to say. The part that was pining, a little unsure, but still so, so bright and hopeful.

So, yes, it felt special, leaning against the pier in quiet companionship with Stacey McGill, the two of them drenched in fading gold like they belonged together.

Maybe part of the special feeling was this: it seemed that Mary Anne had changed a little, and maybe Stacey had too.

“I’m glad...” Mary Anne began, as the first stars of the night winked hello above them. 

“What was that?”

The evening, the dress, the moment — it almost made her feel brave. Mary Anne wanted to take the feeling and press it into her scrapbook, to keep it forever. 

“I’m glad we came,” Mary Anne said softly, somehow feeling more herself than she had the week before _._ “Being away from my dad for the first time...spending time with you…it’s like I’ve gotten to see a new side of both of us.”

Stacey turned to look at Mary Anne, her blue eyes crinkling and bright. She looked so at home in that sunset, with the neverending ocean glimmering and deepening against her skin, her hair, her dress.

“I feel that,” Stacey said, thoughtful. “You know, I was nervous about coming on this trip with you.”

“You were?”

“I didn’t know if we’d have anything to talk about,” Stacey admitted, and Mary Anne laughed.

“I might have had that thought too,” Mary Anne said. 

“But you’re really cool, Mary Anne. You’re responsible and level-headed, but you’re also funny and weird. In a good way. I didn’t know that.”

“I don’t know anything about fashion, though,” Mary Anne said, looking out at the spot where the sun had been just a few moments ago. “Or living in New York. Or boys.”

“Well… do you want to know about boys?” Stacey asked, looking at her, _seeing_ her.

If Stacey had asked her this last year, she wouldn’t have known what to say, or how to start.

“I don’t know,” said Mary Anne carefully, and it felt like she was laying her heart bare for the first time.

And now here they were on the pier together, in cute dresses Stacey had picked out, slowly coming to understand each other in the quiet, lingering warmth of a summer night.

“That’s fair,” said Stacey, without pressing, and it was hard, so hard not to love her.

Mary Anne knew about the lifeguard. She knew about Pete Black. She knew about every other boy Stacey and Claudia had ever giggled over between phone calls.

But none of them were here now, were they? 

The sun was down, and Mary Anne let herself be brave.

The kiss was soft and small and cautious, but felt like the biggest thing Mary Anne had ever done in her entire life. Stacey smelled like flowers and sunscreen and salt, and her hand under Mary Anne’s was smooth and slender and moving carefully up to rest against Mary Anne’s cheek.

Stacey’s eyes were open and Mary Anne could see all of the stars in them.

For a moment, they belonged together.

“I’m sorry,” Mary Anne began.

“Don’t be,” Stacey said, her hand still soft, still there.

In the morning, they would go back to the beach, and Stacey would be back at the lifeguard chair, pining, hopeful.

Tonight, Mary Anne leaned in one last time, and Stacey met her.

  
  



End file.
